


Reap the Victories

by zarabithia



Category: Avengers movieverse, Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Agent Carter Week, Gen, You Will Pry the Present Tense Out of My Cold Dead Hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 21:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Black Widow is ready to change her allegiance, she gives a very clear signal.  Peggy's last act as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is to acknowledge that gesture and return it with one of her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reap the Victories

The first time that Peggy meets Natalia Romanova, Peggy has been involved in running S.H.I.E.L.D. for five years.

Natalia tries to kill her, of course. The Black Widow is good, and later, Peggy will use the freedom that old age will bring her in order to roll her eyes at the people who will attempt to give all the credit for The Black Widow's skill to her teacher.

The Russians could have entrusted Natalia's training to a turtle, and the world would have suffered the successes and reaped the victories of Black Widow all the same.

But when Natalia meets Peggy the first time, Black Widow is not as good as she will be later. The first time, Peggy is better, and Peggy survives when Widow intends that she should not. 

Peggy knows that there will come a time in which the Widow will surpass her skills. 

"Such potential, Little Spider," Peggy says, when she stands above a bruised - but not broken - Black Widow. "When you decide to stop wasting it, do give me a call."

~

Black Widow does not call her. 

Not exactly.

But Natalia does give her a signal. 

~

"I'm not sure it's a signal," Nick says doubtfully, as is his right as the person who will be replacing Peggy in mere days, as the person who should have replaced her years ago, had she been less stubborn and less certain that the Council is going to fuck everything up.

Peggy takes her time unwrapping one of the Swiss truffles she picked up on her last trip there, and nods to show that she is listening. It is the same nod that she gave him when he was only knee-high to his mother, and enjoyed terrorizing the hallways of much smaller headquarters than the ones that he will enjoy as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

"She allowed them to live," Peggy answers. 

Nick glances down at the pictures on her - soon to be _his_ desk - and looks incredibly dismissive.

She is getting old, Peggy supposes. Because that look reminds her very much of the look Sharon once displayed towards a very unwanted pair of boots. 

It's hard to believe that Sharon will be _ten years old_ tomorrow. 

"She could have been sloppy," Nick says of Romanova. Peggy supposes that he has to say such things, because as a future director, he'll need to consider all the angles, no matter how ridiculous some of them might be. 

"She was not sloppy when she lost. I am certain she would not be sloppy when the potential to win was right in her hand." Peggy taps the most telling of the photographs, where the five highly-trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are unconscious and bound ... but still alive.

Romanova could have killed them. They wouldn't have been the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that the Black Widow has attempted to kill, and save for Peggy, Black Widow has been successful in all her kills. 

"All this tells me is that these fools need to be fired. They were taken out by one agent. Just one. There were five of them. As soon as they recover from her boot heel to the head, they're getting put on desk duty." 

"If you judge your agents by whether or not they can take out Black Widow, Nicholas, you are going to be left with very few agents indeed," Peggy tells him. "Perhaps you'll still have May ... in a few years." 

"So you're sending May in to extract the Widow?" 

No. That wouldn't do at all. Regardless of who walked out of that situation, potential would be wasted. "Barton." She smiles at the expression on his face. "Yes, yes, he is a bit of wild card, isn't he? And your favorite will be displeased that I am sending Barton into the Widow's line of fire." 

"Barton is a suicidal risk to S.H.I.E.L.D. and I'm not sure we shouldn't put his ass on desk duty, too." Nick rolls his eyes. "Coulson understands that. Morse took him out of a _circus_ for crying out loud." 

"I trust Agent Morse a good deal. Much more than I trust Agent Coulson," Peggy answers. "She believes Barton is ready for a final test. So do I."

"Your final test is going to involve him disobeying orders?" Nick's eyerolls, over the years, have not changed much. 

"You don't want soldiers who don't know when to question you," Peggy says simply, and she absently fiddles with her wedding ring. "If it all goes south, you can always remind Coulson and anyone else who questions it that it is one of the unfortunate legacies as my time as director." 

"And the Council?" 

"Now, Nicholas, what do you say each time the Council makes a decision you don't like?" 

He smiles, then, and it is the kind of smile that makes Peggy confident that handing over her post to this man is the right thing to do. "I'm aware the Council has reached a decision. But given that it is a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it." 

"Your words, but I don't disagree with the sentiment," Peggy answers. 

~

The Council thinks Black Widow should be executed, and those are the orders Peggy gives to Clint Barton.

He's barely an adult. Morse says he claims to be twenty-five, and Morse had laughed through the insult at her intelligence when she had told Peggy this. 

He's sixteen. A better person wouldn't turn a sixteen-year-old into an assassin, but Peggy has always been good at spotting potential. 

Clint Barton is too young. He is an asshole at times. He takes on missions that have no possibility of escape, just for the joy of completing them and bragging later. When he is angry, he has all of the personality of a cactus. 

But he is an earnest boy who wants nothing more than to be a good man. 

He has potential, just like that little red-headed girl had, decades ago. Just like that 90 pound scrap of bone that Erskine had brought them had, even more decades ago. 

"Agent Morse she believes you are ready for a test," Peggy says. "To see if you're ready to go out into the field alone." 

"I've been ready for _ages_ , Carter," he says with a brash smile that would have looked at home on Howard in his youth. 

"It's _Director_ Carter," Nick corrects.

"But not for much longer, right?" Barton retorts. "So what's my test? Sooner you tell me, sooner I can go pass it and be a _real_ agent." 

Peggy carefully lays out the pictures that had been taken at the scene of Widow's last mission. He takes in the scene. 

"One woman is responsible for this," Peggy tells him. "The Black Widow. You've heard of her?" 

"Yeah, who hasn't? World's best spy." He grins a false little smile that might be meant to charm someone, but isn't going to work on Peggy or Nick. "Expected her to be a little bit more deadly, from the way that Bobbi goes on and on about her all the time. Kind of unimpressed, really." 

"She took out five agents, and you're _unimpressed?_ " Nick asks skeptically. "I suspect it is more than you could do, Barton." 

"Your hand to hand is somewhat lacking, according to Agent Morse's reports," Peggy agrees non-committedly, and like an angry little kitten who has just been dipped in water, Barton bristles and leans closer to the desk that will no longer be Peggy's in another twenty-four hours. 

"She was sent to kill them, right? So why didn't she get the job done?" Barton asks. "She just tied them up. If _she_ was being tested, she'd fail, right? Maybe your agents are just shitty at their jobs." 

Peggy glances over at Nick and refrains from pointing out the similarity in what Barton is arguing to what Nick had, only a few moments before. 

"Black Widow's _choices_ are not our concern, Mister Barton," Peggy admonishes. "She has made hers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. has made ours. You are well aware of her history. What do you think our choice is going to be?" 

Barton looks up at her and then back down at the photos. "She didn't kill anyone." 

"Not this time," Nick points out, and Peggy nods her agreement. 

Barton looks at them both and leans back in his chair. "You want her dead," he says. "If that's the test, it's pretty easy, Director Carter. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants a lot of people dead. Worst multiple choice game in the history of multiple choice games." 

"No, Mister Barton." Peggy carefully gathers the photos into a neat pile and doesn't correct his definition of multiple choice. "Your _test_ is to carry out the execution." 

Barton picks up his bow and slings it over his shoulder. "When do I leave?" 

"Immediately. Agent Morse will _not_ be accompanying you on the mission," Peggy tells him. "This is your solo shot. Don't miss your target." 

He scowls at her. "I never miss." 

He leaves her office and the amount of arrogance and youthful self-importance declines considerably. 

"Agent Morse might deserve a recommendation for sainthood," Nick mutters beside her. "Expect an I-Told-You-So when this goes south, Carter." 

"And if you gain not one, but two, new assets," Peggy says, "I expect a thank you." 

~

Peggy is watching Sharon enjoy her first slice of delivered New York style pizza when the postcard arrives. It's a simple card, with a bright United States flag splashed across one whole side. 

_Thanks._

_\- N.F._

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the Thursday prompt of "headcanons and tropes," but I couldn't finish it until today. As always (until I am inevitably Jossed), I am using the life story of [Marcus Johnson/Nick Fury, Jr.](http://marvel.wikia.com/Nicholas_Fury,_Jr._\(Earth-616\)) for MCU Fury's background.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] Reap the Victories](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318558) by [exmanhater](https://archiveofourown.org/users/exmanhater/pseuds/exmanhater)




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